"I'm home." Chiharu announced, tiredly pulling off her shoes and taking off her coat and scarf. Winter still clung to the land, even though the land had long since gotten tired of winter. It was most definitely an abusive relationship. Sort of like the Miyamotos teaming up to not let her finish a single sentence all night. Chiharu sighed. If only everyone were as rational as she was, life would be so much simpler.

　　"Welcome home," Saki replied from the living room. Chiharu put on her indoor slippers and walked to her youngest sister. Saki was lying sideways on the couch, in a cute green shirt and white skirt, idly watching a drama show about doctors.

　　"Is Aiko still upstairs with her date?" Chiharu asked her youngest sister.

　　"No, he's already left. Aiko's in the bath. Want me to tell her to get out?" Saki asked.

　　"I bathed at Kotone's. Her hot springs can't be missed. I just need to talk to her before she goes to bed." Chiharu explained.

　　"Hmmm? You two talk a lot now." Saki's voice seemed disinterested, but her eyes were watching Chiharu very closely.

　　"I'm thinking of taking her on a trip with my friends. To Europe, America, everywhere really. We're going to use Kotone's private jet." Chiharu explained innocently.

　　"Seriously? In the middle of the school year?" Saki's eyes widened. "What about college?"

　　"Don't worry, we're only spending the weekends abroad. Actually the trips will be 90% flying. Stupid, huh? But this is the only opportunity Kotone had." Chiharu lied smoothly.

　　"Take me with you." Saki sat up from the couch, ignoring the TV, her eyebrows lifting into perfect puppy dog eyes.

　　"Maybe when you're older." Chiharu smiled. The rest of her friends were certain she was forming her own private army of wyrd contracted Sakais, and they would get another wyrd once Shiori's upward folding plan succeeded. It would be a shame to break the symmetry by not completing the Sakai cycle now. But before Saki could be entrusted with anything like that, she would have to become a much better person. Hopes and expectations were two different things.

　　"No fair." Saki flounced. "Aiko gets everything."

　　"Hey, I don't have a boyfriend either." Chiharu smiled, pinching Saki's cheek.

　　"Stop it, you bully." Saki complained.

　　"That's right, I'm a bully. So watch out!" Chiharu smiled but let go. Saki rubbed her cheek, but Chiharu thought she was hiding a smile too. It was a ritual they had repeated many times over the years.

　　"What do you know about their date?" Chiharu sat down on the couch next to Saki and whispered conspiratorially.

　　"Kioshi, that's his name," Saki paused a moment to impart that vital detail, "was blushing furiously by the time he left. Sister was too. They kept bowing to each other at the doorway."

　　"Suspicious." Chiharu nodded sagely.

　　"I know! After she said they weren't even going to kiss. They probably -- mmfff." Saki's next words were cut off by Chiharu's hand over her mouth.

　　"Now now, ten year olds have no idea what a boy and a girl could probably do beyond kissing. And you know Aiko better than that." Chiharu admonished.

　　"I do too know." Saki fought Chiharu's hand off her mouth. "Honestly. I watch TV." Saki gestured at the doctor drama, which really explained all that was necessary.

　　"Yes, but cute girls pretend they don't." Chiharu remonstrated.

　　"I don't need to be cute in front of my sister." Saki punched Chiharu in the thigh.

　　"But you do need to be fair." Chiharu said.

　　"I know. I know she wouldn't. I just. . .nevermind. I left the room ahead of time so that they could be together. I hope it works out for her, I really do. I just hate being reminded every day what she can do and I can't."

　　"Just by looking at her body?" Chiharu guessed. Saki nodded, pushing back the tears.

　　"You're going to be happy someday, Saki. I promise." Chiharu had two hundred million yen set aside for her to make that happen. "Just hang in there. It gets better."

　　"I read her book." Saki switched gears, too embarrassed to talk about herself anymore. "I was the first."

　　"Oh? She must have trusted you a lot then." Chiharu was surprised. Aiko was writing a book? I thought she only enjoyed reading them.

　　"Of course. We're roommates, after all." Saki tried to wipe away the proud grin on her face and act cool, detached, indifferent and natural.

　　"Practically lovers." Chiharu teased.

　　"Moohh. Don't say weird things." Saki stiffly turned her attention away from her older sister to watch the television.

　　"Was the book any good?" Chiharu prompted her little sister, genuinely curious. Oh no. Please don't tell me she just wrote a book about us, wyrds, magic, and what really happened six years ago. If she wrote it all down and passed it off as fiction to Saki I'm going to kill her.

　　"It was amazing. Especially when Autumn used her telekinesis to take out like a hundred guards." Saki's voice lifted and her eyes twinkled, remembering the scene.

　　Chiharu's tension emptied out of her. Okay, so Aiko wasn't a complete idiot. "Wait, start at the beginning!" Chiharu complained. "Who's Autumn?"

　　"She's. . .well, she's Autumn. Just read it yourself." Saki held up her hands and shrugged.

　　"Maybe on the plane." Chiharu mused, watching the doctors trade witty lines while saving indescribably injured and diseased patients.

　　"Take me with you." Saki asked again.

　　"No." Chiharu replied.

　　"Bully." Saki said.

　　"That's right, I'm a bully. So watch out." Chiharu replied. The two sat on the couch together, watching in silence, their thighs touching. Neither moved away until the end of the show.

* * *

　　Aiko Sakai carefully picked her way through her dark room and started to undress back down to just her Bubbles-wrap.

　　"Is that you, sister?" Saki's voice floated across the room in a whisper.

　　"Yes, sorry to wake you."

　　"I wasn't asleep yet." Saki reassured Aiko, though her voice did sound really sleepy. "Are you going? On the world tour?"

　　"Yes. Father said okay." Aiko yawned and slipped into bed, finding the covers and then pulling them over her. It was still cold outside and the extra comforter was a necessity.

　　"Will you buy me souvenirs?" Saki begged.

　　"I don't know. If I have time." Aiko replied.

　　"What was it like?" Saki asked, even more quietly.

　　"The date? I don't know. I was so nervous I never had a chance to just enjoy myself." Aiko replied.

　　You know what I mean. I guess she won't tell me though. All that stuff this morning sure didn't last long, Saki thought grumpily.

　　Aiko took a deep breath. "The kiss was warm, and wet, and it set my heart racing. I was terrified he would try for more, but I also wished he would, which was even more terrifying."

　　"Is it. . .I mean. . .as perfect as it looks on TV?" Saki asked, amazed that Aiko had suddenly opened up again.

　　"It's even better. It leaves you tingling everywhere, and breathless, but somehow more full of life than ever before. Kissing is. . .it's wonderful. I'm so grateful I found a boy I could trust enough to. . .share my first experience of that with. Someone who won't let it go to waste. I can still feel him on my lips now." Aiko gushed.

　　"Are you going to go further?" Saki asked.

　　"No. I hope not. Not if I can help it." Aiko replied.

　　"Even though it feels so good?" Saki whispered.

　　"Because it feels so good. Something like that. Saki. It's powerful. It's too powerful. It. . .it would change my life forever. Forever. I would never recover if anything went wrong. Before I feel something like that, I need to know I won't lose it, or him, ever. Ever." Aiko's second ever was more determined than the first.

　　"But what if you can't help it?" Saki whispered, worried.

　　"I don't know." Aiko confessed.

　　"Thank you for telling me the truth. For. . .the entire day. I love you, Aiko." Saki said, content.

　　"I love you too, Saki." Aiko replied, smiling, even though the darkness hid their faces.

　　There was a long pause where both drifted towards sleep, then Saki suddenly said, "Autumn's awesome."

　　"Isn't she?" Aiko smiled even more. Then there was another long silent pause between them.

　　"Goodnight, sister." Saki surrendered to the night.

　　"Goodnight, sister." Aiko replied. I'll protect you. She swore to herself. And then she was dreaming.

* * *

　　Aiko was Cho Kai. He was the most prestigious scientist at Seoul National University, renowned for his work on stem cells all across the world. The president had once described him as a national treasure. His research had been turned into five different spin-off companies. But no one understood. As of yet, he didn't understand a thing. He hadn't succeeded, he had failed. All his life he had failed to reach the central truths of this universe: How did life begin? How did it evolve from simple unicellular organisms to the complex organs and capabilities it has today? Was there life on other planets? Was it sentient, like life on Earth? How intelligent were animals? What was the source of human intelligence? What, exactly, made the human brain so smart, and why were some people so much more intelligent than others? Was sentience an inevitability wherever life emerged, or was it a rare or singular exception? Was it possible to fully recreate the human mind, in an immortal digital form, using binary logic? Or were there quantum levels of intelligence no computer could currently emulate? Was there an intelligent soul that couldn't be emulated by any material construct?

　　What was dark matter? What was dark energy? Why was the universe the way it was? Where did its laws of physics come from? Why were they suited to life? Is this the only universe, or were there others? Did parallel universes interact with each other, or were they forever untouchable? Did time travel exist? Did wormholes exist? Could the speed of light barrier be overcome? How did particles entangle themselves and coordinate states instantaneously across space? Did this universe have a beginning and an end, or was it an eternal cycle? If it did have an end, was that the end of everything, or was there a supernatural plane that picked up where the material plane left off? Was consciousness transmittable between new stages of existence? Could reincarnation fundamentally preserve a person's personality and character, only switching out minor differences between lives? Or did people just die when they died?

　　Was the universe chaotic or determined? Flat or curved? Did time truly exist or was it just a perceptual illusion? How many dimensions did the universe really have? Was it eleven, ten, four, three, or two? Was the fundamental quanta of the universe energy, information, mass, or something else? Was the universe really quantized? What was the smallest particle? How many particles were there? A set number? Or infinite variations at higher and higher energy levels? Did humans have free will? Was there a God? If there was, why hadn't he shown himself? Was there a meaning to the universe, or did humans have to make one up on their own? If it was made up, did that make it any less real? Did people have the right to impose made-up meanings to the universe on others, or were all possible interpretations equal, because all of them were equally false? How could Einstein's theory of relativity be made to fit with the findings of quantum mechanics? What was the theory of everything?

　　He was dabbling in a kiddy pool while the entire ocean waited, just outside his reach. It was maddening. Cho Kai had realized by age thirty, still single and still studying how to coax cells into specializing into the types he wanted, that he would never know. The answer to anything. The answer to any of it. He had been born too soon. He would die before the great mysteries were solved. No matter how frantically he studied the questions, there wasn't the time or the resources to come to a definitive conclusion. Everything that was worth knowing. Everything that needed to be known, to make this world intelligible, was unknown and unknowable. It was maddening. Everything he knew, everything in his head, was false. Every single fact he thought he knew, was an inaccurate picture of the world, destined to be obsoleted by future scientists, just like the theory of aether in space, and the illusory phlogistan that transmitted heat. He had studied, and experimented, and won awards, for nothing. For a bucketful of pig's slop, that was neither true nor important in any way. Cho Kai could care less if he saved lives. Scientifically, the value of life hadn't even been proven yet. If there were infinite universes with life forms far surpassing mankind, it was a joke to even concern himself with the fleshbags of this world. Not only would there be infinite happiness felt by infinite beings all across the multiverse, there would be infinite suffering felt by infinite beings all across the multiverse. Once you were dealing with infinites, it was comical to bother adding or subtracting to the balance sheets on this lone world. Worse, if the theory of parallel universes was true, any action he took would not actually improve the situation, it would simply split off his universe from his other self who didn't act. Ie, every good deed he did had a corresponding alternate universe where he instead did a bad deed. Conversely, every time he chose to do something bad, an alternate universe where he instead chose to be good broke off from this universe and went its own separate way. Since all possibilities were accounted for by an infinitude of equally true timelines all playing out in their own untouchable separate spheres, it didn't matter what he did. It all balanced out. If he chose the worst possible route for his life, he was just doing all his alternate selves a favor, by soaking up that possibility for the team. His other possible selves could go about taking the best possible route without him, and it would all balance out. If the multiple worlds theory was true, all actions were equally valid and equally meaningless. But since he didn't know if the multiple worlds theory was true, he couldn't be certain there was no point to life. God didn't tell him. Science didn't tell him. There wasn't enough data.

　　There was never enough data. So when the government had come to him last year, asking if he would like to involve himself in a new field of research, his answer had been simple: How much funding would he receive? With more funding, he could get more data. With more data, he could reach firmer conclusions. With firmer conclusions, he could leave the kiddy pool behind and finally surf the ocean of mysteries, just outside his grasp. The answer had been quick -- 100 trillion won. Project Ares would be given to him as sole administrator. He was welcome to hire any assistants he pleased, and to fund any line of research he pleased -- so long as it produced weapons. The government needed weapons. Stronger weapons than ever before. Strong enough to deter China, which had grown restless now that its North Korean buffer state had disappeared. Strong enough to destroy China, which was now the sole remaining dictatorship in Asia. Strong enough to kill China if they ever attempted to reconquer the province they had never really given up, the entire Korean peninsula which had been under their domination more often than not. Stronger than nukes, but less apparent to outside sensors and spies. The strongest weapons of mass destruction ever made, something that completely outclassed China's nuclear arsenal, while being completely undetectable until the project was complete and the arsenal available for use. Cho Kai was their best hope. His work on cells hinted that they expected biological weapons from him. Further suggestions and hints had been offered that the best possible weapon would be an ethno-plague. Something that would infect and kill all Chinese, while being perfectly harmless to Koreans, due to subtle genetic differences. And while he was at it, he could go ahead and construct an ethno-bomb that would kill all other humans except Koreans, for the ultimate deterrent. Of course, ethno-bombs directed at other singular nations would also be welcome. Just make them quietly. Make them quickly. Do what you have to do. Human experimentation was fine. Just give the government a call and they would provide whatever samples he needed, Korean or non-Korean. Cho Kai, personally, didn't care whether China conquered Korea or not. But he did care about 100 trillion won devoted to any science he preferred, ready to answer any questions he wanted answered -- so long as he developed a weapon of ultimate destruction. It wasn't Cho Kai's problem what the government did with it. If that was their price, that was their price. It was their responsibility whatever happened from there. Besides, the government was elected, so really it was the Korean people's responsibility how his weapons were used. He was just doing what he was told. Cho would make their damn bomb. Cho would make ten different versions of it, just to be safe. But he'd spend the rest of the money on science of his choosing. A lot of science could be covered by the penumbra of military applications. With 100 trillion won, he could do it. He could build a bomb and his own dream laboratory. And there would be more precious data.

　　If he didn't build it, someone else would. Even if no one else in the world did, some alternate universe's Cho Kai would, just to satisfy the necessity of reality including all possible timelines. But this way, this Cho Kai would get the answer to his questions. He was going to surf the sea of mysteries. Not Cho Kai sigma. The truth will be discovered by Cho Kai prime.

　　Overlooking his army of labcoat wearing assistants from his plush one-way windowed office, the peons looking through their microscopes and filling vials and putting labels assiduously with each sample, Cho Kai thought upon all of these things, and found them to be good. It will be within my lifetime. The answer to the real questions will now, finally, be within my lifetime. I won't have to wait much longer. But his pleasure was interrupted by a sudden glow of purple light. It was coming from a floating orb, not suspended by a string or wire or any magnetic field that he could detect. Most curious.

　　"Greetings, Cho Kai. The wyrd council has been watching you. I am Ube. You desire the truth of this world. We desire your research to succeed. Let us exchange knowledge. Form a contract with us, and we will show you a world beyond your imagination." The purple sphere flashed along with its words. Now this was new. It would have to be investigated.

　　"What must I do?" Cho Kai asked, so excited his hands were shaking.

　　"Repeat after me, via tu lusches, Ube. And then listen, and learn." Ube commanded.

　　"Via tu lusches, Ube." It seems he had hit the jackpot.

* * *

　　Aiko Sakai gasped awake, the night not even half done. The Dead Enders were coming. And she was stuck at school for the next five days. Even though it was cold, she found herself covered in sweat.